1. Field of the Invention
This patent document relates generally to chairs and more specifically to a chair arm assembly that requires no tools to assemble and provides a smaller form factor for the chair for convenient shipping and storage.
2. Background of the Related Art
Chairs, such as office swivel chairs, are often assembled by the end customer. Assembling the chair requires that the customer have certain tools, such as screwdrivers, Allen wrenches and conventional wrenches. However, customers do not all possess these tools and have various mechanical aptitude for assembling components together. Therefore, it is desirable that the chair, to the extent possible, come as preassembled as possible to minimize the inconvenience to the customer.
Weighing against this situation is that it is also desirable that the chair be as compact as possible during shipping and storage. Understandably, a preassembled chair occupies a larger volume than a disassembled chair. The main obstacle to overcoming this problem is the backrest, seat cushion and chair arms (if provided) of the chair, which occupies a significant volume of space when assembled together.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a chair and chair arm assembly that can be easily assembled or require minimal assembly, and that requires no tools, yet is still compact for shipping and storage.